Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright,

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry

– William Blake

So, to recap on where I left off on Part One…2010 is a year with the theme of Againstness.

How do we translate Againstness into something practical that laypeople can comprehend? (although newsflash – apparently Againstness is actually a word.). Just straight off the top of my head, here are some of the words/associations I would put with this term:

Versus. Antagonism. Anti. Disagreement. Conflict.Dog-Eat-Dog. Everyman for himself. For me to live, you must die. There can only be one.

However, methinks that to actually be more precise, one must actually look at the nature of the Againstness we are dealing with here. Theoretically, two sets of Elements in the Five Element table can exemplify Againstness – Wood vs Metal (as per 2010) or Fire vs Water. And in each scenario there’s a clear difference in the nature of the Againstness.

In 2010, we have Wood vs Metal. So from here, we can further extrapolate the following:

• Wood is benevolence. Metal is justice. What is right, isn’t always fair. And vice versa. Theme for the year.
• The bleeding hearts vs the ones who think of the greater good. Wood is about giving way. About kindness. Metal is about clarity. And righteousness. Is it better to give the beggar in the street a dollar? Or haul him out from the gutter and force him to earn his living?
• Wood is progress. Metal is decisiveness. One wishes to move forward. The other is about finality.  In issues of the day (global warming, bonus regulation, banking regulation), this will be the dilemma. Do we strive to get the system that is right and moves us forward, or do we just get something that works, and start moving on?
• Wood = Liberals. Metal = Conservatives. They never like each other, but can’t live without the other. But who will triumph? (cf. UK election this year) I say no one. Both sides will end up bruised in the battle

Now let’s look back at the chart:

The most needed element in this chart is WATER. Obviously, there isn’t a drop of it.

Water represents wisdom and intelligence. Which means that whatever the world faces, whatever the governments of the day face, whatever the average person is facing – the answer is to THINK ABOUT IT.

Unfortunately, wisdom and cooler heads WILL NOT prevail, at least until the summer months. Even then, it may well be a warped type of wisdom because although the Horse Month (壬 午）contains Water, the YEAR itself does not. It is questionable if this wisdom will even have any real impact, or turn out to be wisdom of benefit, especially as Ren Wu itself is usually seen as very stable pillar. Significantly, the other month when Water appears prominently is Goat Month (癸 未) – by conventional BaZi outlook, Gui Wei is considered a pillar that signals contamination, thoughts that are muddied, and murky. Unclear.

I do think however that we might get a touch of hysteria though. Since Water is needed, people will tend to be more emotional in the manner in which they react, as a means in which to compensate for the absence of the element. This is an effect that sometimes occurs in charts where there is an element missing. The person resorts to the element frequently because they need it/want to use it. Unfortunately, it usually turns out that the use of the element is either ineffective OR worse, badly used.

There is using emotion as an outlet. And there is using emotion for manipulation. And my personal sentiment is that the hysteria/emotional responses that we will see to the events of the year will err on the side of unreasonable emotion rather than sentimental emotion. Simply because the entire year’s tone/theme is in many respects, irrational in it’s nature.

I’m also taking that stance because of the last two pillars in the year. Yi You and Ji Mao. I call these last two pillars the Hara Kiri pillars. I mean it does sort of invoke the image of gutting oneself (or someone else right?).

Yi You is the universal bazi symbol of betrayal. And in the stems, you can see the You, is also busy taking a stab at the Mao that is next to it. Yet more ‘cutting’. Yet more betrayal. Yet more Hara Kiri.

If we follow the natural progression of the pillars, we can see the first two pillars (spanning the first 2 quarters of the year up until Goat month) represent one type of Againstness, and the last two pillars reflect a different (and more insidious) type of Againstness. Againstness that results in Betrayal. Or a sense of being or having been Betrayed.

So the first half of the year will be laden with disagreements, but in a sense positive disagreements. Because Wood is trying to win over Earth (stability/status quo) and also trying to work things out with Metal (Justice/Righteousness/Decisiveness/The Now). This is if you like, positive disagreement. It’s natural disagreement. It’s two people going against each other but only because they have to, and not out of any selfish motivation. Each is doing what they must. As the chinese say, the soldier must chase the thief.

But then we move towards the 2nd half of the year governed by Yi You and Ji Mao and we see a different picture emerging. Yes, it still is Metal against Wood. But it is the Wood that cannot afford to be wrong, against the Metal that must always be right. It is two of the most self-interested, survivalist, scheming and cunning Stems, going up against each other. The tone and mood will shift – now it is no longer natural disagreement. It is posturing. It is death by a thousand cuts.

Alternative Methodology

In the above method, it’s heavy on extrapolation and philosophy. It’s also using the individual pillars to read how the year’s influences will change as we progress through each Quarter, whilst overlaying the year’s theme into the equation.

Another way to look at things is to look simply at the chart, and read it as if it were a person.

Back to basics. This is a Yi Wood Day Master, born in season. Self is strong. As such, needs Officer, Output and Wealth. The chart has a missing element, which is that of Water. It’s some matter of argument whether or not Water is the Useful God. On the one hand, the chart is cold (Winter has just concluded) and so Fire, particularly Bing Fire is needed. On the other hand, Wood needs Water, as one of the fundamental elements for it’s survival. But Water makes the chart colder.

In a call like this, I’d go with Fire because Water is not present. Moot point. Unfortunately, the Bing Fire here is in Growth, but also Hidden. And at the Mao Hour, it’s not very bright. Coupled with the absence of the Resource element, we have a problem also of the Useful God here being potentially not THAT useful.

So, conclusion: this *person* (cause it’s really a year) has empathy issues, isn’t really a thinker, and is full of empty ideas (Resource must support the Eating God/Hurting Officer). This person also has a real issue when it comes to Noble People – they are flying without any parachute. There will be no Knight in Shining Armour to come to this person’s rescue when they screw up. There will be no one cheering them on to get to the finish line. There will not be anyone offering up good ideas at the right time, to help them out of their quagmire. (hmmm, any of this striking a chord?)

Equally, their own ideas will be crap. there will be a lot of bullshit talk (empty eggs, vessels that make too much noise) because the quality of this Hurting Officer Star is questionable, given that it lacks the Resource Star that is technically needed to make it a quality Star.

I therefore from this theorise that this will officially be the year of STUPID GOVERNMENT LEADERS and INANE LEADERSHIP. Like that phrase in MacBeth, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The inane leadership conclusion also can be derived from the quality of the Direct Officer Star here. This is a poor quality Officer Star because it obviously lacks the requisite Ding Fire to forge it. But more importantly, this Direct Officer is not rooted, and what is hidden underneath the Day Master is the 7 Killings Star. This means the *person* is by and large disingenuous. There is a hidden agenda in all that is being done. It appears that the person is doing what is right and honourable, when in fact, they are pursuing some mad world domination plan at the end, that involves making use of other people (who will be made to think they are going along with something that is all good and right when it is not).

How I see it is this: the actions of the world in 2010 (leaders, governments, politicians, CEOs, bankers! anyone really) will be punctuated by an agenda arising from deep seated insecurity (RW) and paranoid fear (7K), along with a measure of greed or at least, self interest, but all that will be disguised by an apparent image of trust, and worthiness.

In this chart, technically the Rob Wealth star is a negative Star and so is not useful/needed. Yet, Yi of all the Day Masters, uses Rob Wealth best. But when a strong Yi Wood uses the Rob Wealth Star, this indicates that the partnerships/collaborations will be unlikely to yield a good outcome since neither party actually  needs the other.

Conclusion: soured partnerships. Everyone looking for a win-win when simply put, there is no win-win. Collaborations will look good, but will ultimately prove to be only furthering the agenda of the more wily party at hand.

The third most interesting feature of this chart is the fact that the Day Master has wealth stars on the left and right. Ji in the Hour, and Wu in the Month. This automatically also indicates that this *person* has greed issues. Traditional BaZi terms this a ‘right cuddle, left embrace‘ scenario. It usually indicates the person is lecherous or is a womaniser but also translates into a person who is greedy because they see possibilities and opportunities everywhere, and TRY to put a burger that is too big, into their mouth which is not small, but just that…

THE BURGER IS TOO DAMN BIG.

By the same vein, it can also be concluded that governments will be torn between stable organic and reasonable growth (Direct Wealth) and trying to bring back the feel-good effect too fast potentially through encouraging speculation (the Indirect Wealth). As this Yi Wood controls the Indirect Wealth better, it will favour speculation. But the Jia Wood (rob Wealth Star) favours Direct Wealth.

Conclusion: dog attempts to eat dog, and ends up getting indigestion. People will think that they best way forward is to think about saving themselves, and only thinking about themselves and that will backfire spectacularly on them.Given that we live in a world where monetary policy is a global matter, and the activities of one market will always have an effect on another, you will see some countries actually potentially encouraging speculation and bubbles whilst others try to hold things back. Again, AGAINSTNESS.

I may edit this as I go along with more time to think about my ideas. But next post:  who is most affected in 2010.